“Girls as young as 13 or 14 can get contraceptives in New York City public schools.”

In many places girls that young are able to get abortions as well. This debate leads to questions of competency and parental consent. If not parents, I think primary physicians should be directly involved in granting consent, at the very least.

You may remember Mike Toomey, Governor Rick Perry’s former chief of staff that went to work for Merck and lobbied for Merck’s Gardasil. Gardasil protects against the human papillomavirus, or HPV. The federal government approved Gardasil in June 2006, and medical authorities began recommending that all girls get the shots at ages 11 and 12, before they are likely to be sexually active.

Governor Perry pushed for Gardasil to be used on young girls in Texas. He got lots of criticism for that during the last presidential election.